The present invention relates to an image pickup device equipped with a light emitter and an image pickup method using a light emitter.
For taking a picture or carrying out an image pickup operation in a place with insufficient light quantity, it has been a common practice that the image is picked up by extending an exposure time or by compensating the light quantity by emitting light with a strobe or an electronic flash. In the latter case, the use of the strobe can shorten the exposure time and it becomes possible to take a picture without setting a camera to a fixed place even in the dark.
As one of photographing techniques based on a stroboscopic light emission, there is available a strobe control technique as disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 5-44654. According to this method, for carrying out a stroboscopic photographing, a pre-light emission is carried out first, and then a main light emission is carried out by controlling the quantity of the light emission with reference to image data stored at the time of the pre-light emission.
However, according to the above technique disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 5-44654, the main light emission is carried out without exception after the pre-light emission. Therefore, even if the light quantity of an image obtained by the pre-light emission is sufficiently suitable, for example, a photographing is achieved through the main light emission, despite a fact that the image obtained by the pre-light emission could have been used as a picked-up image. This requires a charging to a capacitor for carrying out the main light emission. Thus, there has been a wasting of power by this charged amount, which results in a shorter life of a battery.